A few years ago I told my 7 year old niece that she could earn money by painting rocks and sell at a website, and she was excited and willing, but then her dad smashed her enthusiasm by stating it was a "dumbass idea that would never sell jack". She just gave up the thought and moved on to be a dumbass useless consumer!

The story of the most successful "dumbass idea"

In the year 1975, the advertising executive Gary Dahl was at a bar with friends, listening to them complain about the amount of work it takes to have a pet. Suddenly a thought popped into his mind: What if there was a pet that did not require feeding, walking, medical attention or any attention?

Enter the Pet Rock - and America fell in love with a stone in a box.

What made this simple and quite silly joke a success is that Dahl didn't just sell a rock, he sold a solution to a problem people didn't even know they had. The world was full of high-maintenance pets, and Dahl offered the perfect hassle-free alternative of an imagination which needed absolutely no care, but made you feel like you were caring for something.

It wasn't even a product per se! The man simply gathered freely available smooth rocks from rivers across California and packaged one (1) each in 10 cent boxes. It was a conversation starter, a playful way to escape the stresses of everyday life, and over 1 million people fell for it, just to be part of a club. His marketing made people feel like if they did not own a "Pet Rock", they'd be left out of something exclusive  and be a "nobody".

The result was a $6 million empire built on pebbles, with over 1.5 million sold in just 6 months at $4 each

Later owners of the "pet rock" made efforts to give their simple rock a face for that life appeal.

Following the same marketing model of stimulating the need to belong, another fad product was created in 1977 by Joseph Pedott and called "Chia Pet", grass seeds glued to a rock. That product remained in the market for now 48 years and has sold over 25 million pieces.